"Increasing winds along coastal New England and coastal Mid-Atlantic states Tuesday onward may lead to some coastal flooding and beach erosion," it added.

In a statement earlier Thursday, the center said "it should be noted that this system is expected to be much weaker than Hurricane Sandy and produce impacts much less extreme and mainly away from the region most strongly impacted by Sandy."

The Weather Channel echoed that scenario.

"At this time it looks as though coastal impacts would be farther north along the New England coast than we saw with Sandy," wrote weather.com winter weather expert Tom Niziol. "Snowfall would be confined to northern New England. Also, this system will not be anywhere as impactful as Sandy. That being said, it is much too early to discuss details and we will need to keep a close eye on future forecasts to fine tune the evolution of this system."